² This word will recur, so I had better say from the start that it is my preferred translation of the Greek aretē. Aretē is what makes a person or a thing perform its function well, and so it means, for instance, ‘courage’ in Homeric contexts, or ‘virtue’ in Socratic contexts; but it is also what makes you stand out, or excel. No translation is entirely satisfactory, yet it is one of the key words in fifth-century debate and in Plato’s Socratic dialogues.